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Month: January 2008

argh. have been INSANELY busy at work lately. in addition to all my normal work, my boss has been forwarding me all these industry newsletters to read through, print out relevant articles, and add to our ongoing research library and indexes. we’ve been a bit crazy with other things, so these had gotten rather backed up. i’d double-checked with my colleague, who used to be in charge of these things, to make sure i had the task right. she confirmed it, and thanked me for taking care of it, since she’s been overwhelmed with other stuff lately.

yesterday, i spent ALL day working on it. all day. and wasn’t finished yet. and got a bunch of new ones from my boss.

then, just a few minutes ago, she comes in to explain how she wants me to add some other things on. i explained that i wasn’t sure i’d be able to, since right now the backup was insane… and i showed her what we have to do to accomplish this thing she’s asked for. she said that it was ridiculous. she recommended “another” way to do it. i showed her that indeed, her “other” way was exactly what i had been doing. she looked baffled. said she couldn’t imagine that it should be taking so much effort to do it. then she said that i shouldn’t do it; that my colleague should do it. i said that my colleague had too much on her plate already, which is why it had been delegated to me. she said in that case, i should scrap the whole project.

the whole project.

not that i’m attached, just that’s a lot of work i did yesterday, that she even wants me to throw out. really. she said she’d go through it tomorrow and see if there’s any reason to keep any of it, and otherwise throw the whole thing out.

i asked her what she wants me to do with all the newsletters she’s STILL forwarding to me. she said … um, keep them in your inbox until we sort out what to do with them.

that’ll be never.

anyway, i decided to subject my colleagues to my visit to combichrist’s myspace page for a little musical therapy. for me. 🙂 it was lovely. in a … you know… not very lovely way. 🙂

matt and i figured out why the link was wrong. see his comments so you don’t have the same problem. and, matt didn’t believe that i could kick higher than 3 feet, so i stood up and kicked him in the shoulder. easily. that’s when we learned that matt’s a big pussy. 🙂

Friday: Matt “worked from home”, so we also went to see 2 apartments for sale. They were really nice, but didn’t grab me. They grabbed Matt a bit, but I had good arguments against them. 🙂 heh heh.

Saturday: The Party! It was GREAT (my opinion)! Big thanks to everyone who showed up! Everyone brought excellent things to mix up, both liquors and mixers, and I had a lot of fun making up drinks and trying things from my 2 lovely cocktail books. 🙂 I don’t know how many people came, altogether, but at one point, both the living room and the tent were FILLED with people, and a fire was going with a couple of hardy souls around it.

Also a HUMONGOUS thanks to everyone who helped or served the role of “minion” throughout the evening. That includes the dish-washing, cleanup, cocktail waitressing, refill coffee-making, decorating, etc etc etc that so many people helped with!

The rain didn’t put us off too much (thank goodness for large rental tents), but we later had trouble with wind!!! End result: fishing the tent out of the Ij in the morning. Had to call the police for help. 🙂 The rental company has picked up the tent already, and they’ll let us know how the insurance thing works out. At least it was clearly weather-related… that’s a standard coverage on rental equipment.

Sunday: Tent/Ij (see above), then buttermilk pancakes for our wonderful overnight guests/ hard workers. Then Matt, Dick and I went to look at a house for sale at the end of Overtoom. It was so wonderful we’re going for a second viewing tomorrow, to ask more questions, check more details, and possibly make a bid!!!!

The rest of the evening was spent discussing house financing, our friend Steen’s possible interest in our plan, and then CLEANING CLEANING CLEANING. And watching FIERCE, a movie matt got from Dev and Sofia for his birthday… thumbs up for fun! Also, Henry Rollins was in it!

Oh, Henry Rollins is at Paradiso on Wednesday… we may go, if Matt is back from Sweden in time and tickets aren’t sold out.

it looks like they’re be plenty of rain tomorrow, so it’s a really good thing i’ve rented a large party tent for the pier. 🙂 i called a little while ago to confirm that it is indeed coming, since i’ve been having some troubles with orders and deliveries in general lately.

so, it’s still on, and that’s excellent. and we’ll also have a terrace warmer, and hopefully we can get a fire going too (but in the other half of the garden, not in the tent!)

the Cocktail Fu bar will be fun (for me at least!!), and for the first time in maybe 4 years, there’ll be a birthday bat. you minnesotans may remember what that is, but the people here won’t yet have seen it. we made it the first year we were in maastricht, but it didn’t go over well, partially because i had to improvise some of the ingredients, and partially because the people at that party were mostly colleagues and dutch lesson classmates, and didn’t really understand the fun of black frosting. 🙂 anyway, i’ve got all the right ingredients, and will be making it shortly.

i’ve been making lots of ice-cubes, but if you live in amsterdam and/or don’t have a long route to get here, perhaps you can bring some too! it never hurts to have more ice at a cocktail party. 🙂 i wish i could find a place to buy it by the bag. i know sligro has it, but i haven’t got a membership!

today i rented the party tent and the terrace heater… to be delivered sometime early saturday.

i also bought some alcohol. 🙂 and told the guy at the liquor store that… “i’ll be back…”

we’ve got 4 people crashing over so far (still floor space available, but you may want to bring sleeping bags, we’ll run out of bedding)

the parking pass is claimed, so anyone else driving will need to pay for parking. i recommend in the little streets nearby; you only have to pay until midnight, so it’s cheaper than in our 24 hour parking lot.

Things to bring: Warm coat for hanging out outside and/or slippers for hanging out inside Beer or other beverages that you want (We WON’T be providing.)Perhaps a bottle of something mixable that would be useful in making cocktails (We WILL be providing, but it helps to have more)A friend (and we’re not opposed to a few friends – just let us know first)

So, what are we up to?We’re having a party, duh.We’re renting a tent/ terrace warmer(s) for outside, so that we don’t have to stay cramped in the boat. But we can be in both places. We WILL have music outside. (With any luck, we’ll figure out how to make it good and LOUD – no current tourist boats on pier to worry about!)We WILL have a fire outside.Sharon WILL make lots of cocktails (menu as yet to be determined) and get you smashed. 🙂 (No, Karl, i am NOT a cocktail perfectionist; but it will be yummy) We will make some munchies and cake. If you like bringing stuff like that, let us know and we can talk about what is handy.

We DO have sleeping space for out-of-towners this time. First come first serve. If you have friends you could stay with in Amsterdam, feel free to invite them, too.